Friday

Apr 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM

Arnold's earlier work includes "Buddy," the award-winning documentary on former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.

PAWTUCKET — Cherry Arnold, the Rhode Island filmmaker who created "Buddy," the award-winning documentary on former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., has moved away from urban politics and focused her attention on a very different topic.

Her newest film is called "Bluebirds Fly: Love and Hope on the Autism Spectrum." It looks at three Rhode Island children and their families: Carina Piedade, Cain Alves and Dan Jackson. When filming started in 2010, Carina was 6, Cain was 8, and Dan was 15.

The first screenings for "Bluebirds Fly" are coming this week: tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. at the Columbus Theatre in Providence as part of the Southeastern New England Film, Music & Arts Festival, and Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport.

Interviewed at her home in Pawtucket, Arnold said her introduction to the topic came through a 2003 article in The New Yorker, about a family in Maryland struggling to get help for their autistic children.

"I remember thinking 'Wow. We know so little about why this happens and what to do about it.'"

Arnold's interest kept evolving, and as she researched the topic she began to realize that a sibling had some traits characteristic of Asperger's syndrome, which is at the milder end of the autism spectrum. Knowing that, she said, has enabled them to get along better.

"A lot of what drove me to do this project is the feeling that if we know how to deal with people who are wired differently neurologically, it would help all of us. … I have a lot of interest in neuro-diversity. We're all on the spectrum somewhere," Arnold said.

To find her subjects, Arnold worked with the Autism Project of Rhode Island, which sent out an email to see if any families were interested. Arnold said she was surprised by how many responded.

"It's a very personal thing," she said. "But so many parents want to share their stories with the public. They want people to understand this better."

At the very least, Arnold said, she hopes "Bluebirds Fly" gives viewers a better understanding of what autism is.

According to Kids Count, the number of children aged 3 to 21 with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Rhode Island tripled from 2004 to 2014, rising from 710 to 2,240.

"A lot of people equate autism with retardation, and that's not true at all," Arnold said.

Many people with autism are highly intelligent. In her movie, Dan Jackson is obviously a smart young man. Cain Alves is a gifted artist and musician who can hear a piece of music once, and immediately play it back.

Arnold originally had a list of 12 families, then narrowed it down to six and finally three. She said she wanted to tell different stories — Dan's interest in acting and singing, Cain's struggles with meltdowns, Carina's progress using ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) and her inclusion program at school.

At first, Arnold said, she was interested in why autism happens, and why the rate of autism appears to be rising. But as time went on, she chose to focus on what we can do about it.

Along the way, Arnold interviews some experts in the field, and even uses animation to illustrate what might be going on inside the mind of an autistic child. The fluorescent lights in a supermarket, for example, are unremarkable for most people, but their flickering and buzzing could be almost unbearable for someone with autism.

"Animation is a way to tell the story in a more succinct manner, rather than having the doctors droning on," she said.

But the heart of the film is watching the three families, including parents and siblings, deal with the day-to-day issues that autism brings. We see Carina in school. We hear the 911 call Cain's mother makes when he has a meltdown his parents can't handle. We follow along as Dan prepares to sing "Over the Rainbow" at a talent show.

The families' level of trust in me is very humbling," Arnold said. "I developed a greater and greater respect for them. It was a very interesting journey to embed with them."

Arnold said the idea was not to become friends with her subjects, but to be essentially invisible.

"You don't really want to have them feel your presence," she said. "I'm not trying to make friends, but to tell their stories honestly and fairly."

There were lots of challenges to making "Bluebirds Fly," Arnold said. Obtaining permission to film in schools, for example, can be a complicated and time-consuming process. So is gaining access to 911 calls.

Once the film was shot, there was still the challenge of turning the footage into a coherent story. Arnold compares the process to making a sculpture out of a big mass of stone.

"First there's the rough cut, in which you just throw everything up there. You've become so close to the material you don't know if everything holds together," she said. "Then you show it to a lot of people, and you start to see what the common threads are. Then you just keep winnowing it down until the sculpture you want to see emerges."

The film gives viewers at least a small taste of how much work it can take, on the part of parents, siblings, teachers and health professionals, to raise and treat an autistic child.

In one moving scene, Carina's father, Dan Piedade, begins to cry as he talks about his hopes for his daughter. "I just want her to be happy, and not be in danger … that's all," he said.

Dan Jackson's mother, Melinda, worries about how her son will get by after he graduates from school.

But Arnold sees "Bluebirds Fly" as a movie of hope. We are learning more about autism, she said, and developing better ways to treat it. In the process, perhaps everyone can become a little better, like the children in Carina's preschool class who are eager to help her.

After "Bluebirds Fly" has its initial showing in Rhode Island, Arnold will take her movie to film festivals. She hopes to find a broadcast home for it, and plans to make it available to advocacy groups such as Autism Speaks.

In the future, Arnold said she may want to make another movie about the workings of the brain, but she is already in production on her next project and it has very little to do with either Buddy Cianci or autism. This one is about Clingstone, the famous house perched on a tiny island in Narragansett Bay.

For information about "Bluebirds Fly" and for tickets, go to www.bluebirdsflymovie.com.

asmith@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7485

On Twitter: @asmith651

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